How to treat the path of a file to the different operating systems in Java?

Question

I need to implement portable code, but I do not know how to deal with different path conventions on different operating systems.

have you already seen this Q/A: [http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3548775/platform-independent-paths-in-java][1] [1]: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3548775/platform-independent-paths-in-java — Arruda, Jun 15 '12 at 01:19
Ricardo, do you mean the code runs on both unix and windows, or that you need to have the program on one machine navigate the path on another machine? — Ryan, Jun 15 '12 at 02:08

Ryan · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-15T01:30:13.203

1

Ok. Using the File class, if you pass the a given path like so:

new File("myPathInUnixOrWindows");

You will get a system independent file path. Make sure you import:

import java.io.File;

if you just want the abstract base of the path pass it an empty string:

new File("");

edited Jun 15 '12 at 01:30

answered Jun 15 '12 at 01:18

Ryan

this is old documentation. Please provide good guidance and post at least the documentation to Java 6 or 7. – Luiggi Mendoza Jun 15 '12 at 01:20
This only helps when you are dealing with paths to files on this computer. I think the OP is asking about (for example) running an application on Windows that deals with UNIX pathnames. The `File` API doesn't help in that case. – Stephen C Jun 15 '12 at 01:21
Still doesn't help. How do I get `File` on a UNIX machine to generate pathname strings in Windows syntax? The problem is that the `File` API largely assumes that you are dealing with pathnames for >>this<< computer. – Stephen C Jun 15 '12 at 01:41
ok, but he is asking for portable code, why would i need to know for anything else than "this" machine? – Ryan Jun 15 '12 at 01:47
He asks *"How to treat the path of a file to the **different** operating systems in Java?"*. Now, we can't be sure, but >>I<< think this means manipulating file paths on one system that may have come from ... and need to go back to ... a different system. – Stephen C Jun 15 '12 at 02:04
not trying to troll you, (i'm going to ask the OP maybe he will respond), but what would be a good use case for that? I cant think of any, thats why im askin :) – Ryan Jun 15 '12 at 02:07

score -1 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 15 '12 at 01:42

-1

new StringBuilder(dir)
    .append(File.pathSeparatorChar)
    .append(filename)
    .toString()

answered Jun 15 '12 at 01:42

sperumal

2 Answers2